Thursday, 31 May 2012

My FeelUnique.com order of the new L'Oreal Color Infallibles arrived today, together with a LMS Spotlight 24, which I decided to pick up after Gossmakeupartist recommended it. I actually placed two separate orders, as I missed out Magnetic Coral in my first order. Both orders were placed on 18 February. Magnetic Coral arrived in a small padded envelope after a week while the rest arrived in a box on 30 May. The five new shades are all iridescent finishes, with a high-shine finish. These are more complex than previous Color Infallibles.

31 Innocent Turquoise is a glowy light turquoise with specks of pale yellow gold. The product was not evenly pressed into the pot, resulting in a gap on one side. 32 Sassy Marshmallow is a metallic silver with flecks of baby blue and light pink. 36 Naughty Strawberry is a sweet candy pink with flecks of pale yellow gold. My pot had a big clump of product clinging to the stopper. 37 Metallic Lilac is a dirty grey with the barest hint of lilac and flecks of pink. 39 Magnetic Coral is a sunny orange with flecks of yellow and pink. Below are swatches on bare skin without any primer. Each swatch was 3-4 layers, with Magnetic Coral appearing to be the most sheer of the five. My favourite is Innocent Turquoise, which fortunately was not as pale and washed out as I'd seen in some swatches online. These are £6.99 each but FeelUnique still has the 30% discount offer going on, with purchase of three products from this collection if you sign up as a L'Oreal Insider. However, FeelUnique is no longer accepting orders from outside the EU, due to restrictions by L'Oreal. If you are hunting down the Color Infallibles (which can be confusing as L'Oreal bizarrely releases the same shades with different names in different countries), the best online resources are Macnunu and Sakura Lovely.

After hitting pan on a powder foundation, it gets increasingly difficult to pick up the foundation with a sponge. However, by using the Shiseido Perfect Foundation Brush (S$40/US$30) and its drugstore twin, Shiseido Foundation Brush #131, I've been able to continue using the foundation with ease, slowly winnowing it down to the very last bits. The small gently tapered round head of the Shiseido brush picks up the thin strips of powder hugging the sides of the pan efficiently without too much powdery kickup. It applies the foundation evenly with an almost airbrushed finish. This versatile worker can be used with powder, emulsion, liquid and cream foundations. The drugstore version, which has the brand printed on the translucent dark blue handle instead of the ferrule, officially retails for 1890yen in drugstores in Japan, where I purchased it at a 30% discount. It is available on Adambeauty.com for US$26.50. After two or three uses with a powder foundation (or once with a liquid), I wash these with Daiso sponge detergent which removes all traces of foundation speedily.
You can read more reviews of the brush on Makeupstash, Cafe Makeup, My Women Stuff and the Non-Blonde.

Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Looking forward to this Becca Endless Summer collection with three new Beach Tints in Papaya, Lychee and Dragonfruit, plus seven highly pigmented lipglosses! This is supposed to launch in June. I'll be stalking Zuneta!

Here are pics of the Lunasol fall 2012 collection tweeted by the Frau editor. It will be released on 17 August in Japan and includes 32 products in total. The new Modelling Glossy Eyes palettes each contain a glossy base shade in the upper right corner. The shades adhere to Lunasol's usual classic, OL-friendly image that's been a bit of a snoozefest lately.

Monday, 28 May 2012

Below are pics tweeted by the Maquia editor of the Anna Sui reformulated eyeshadow lineup to be released on 2 August and the Ladurée fall collection, Forest Symphony, debuting on 20 July. The new eyeshadow line by Anna Sui is quite a surprise considering that they only just reformulated the eyeshadows two years ago in fall 2010. There will also be a case that can fit three eyeshadow singles. The bottom row of the display looks like cream highlighter and base shades. Sonia Rykiel has a Daisy Duck collection to be released on 3 August. See pics here, here, here, here and here.

On this sunny spring day, we visited Vuillerens chateau near Lausanne that is famous for its iris gardens, numbering around 400 varieties. Started in the 1950s by the American owner, it is open only from 5 May to 17 June. We arrived early just after the opening time of 9am, which was perfect as there were hardly any other visitors around. It was a truly mesmerizing sight, nature in its most glorious splendour. The chateau is set amidst rolling fields of wheat, overlooking a vineyard. The frilly voluptuous petals have a satiny sheen that glistens in the sun. (Click on the pics to view in higher resolution.)Every shade of purple could be seen, from pale lilac to bright lavender to blackened amethyst. Hope you've enjoyed this virtual walk through the gardens!